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What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I support the practice of family planning. It is important that every couple are able to decide their desired number of children and when to have them. This is supported by safe, effective, and tested methods. Family planning enables couples to protect their own, as well as their family’s well-being.
The postpartum period of newly delivered mothers requires a lot of adjustment and healing. Mothers must obtain lots of rest to deal with fatigue. It is a generally overwhelming period in a mother's life, which is why it is critical that she manages it effectively. The mother's body requires time to heal from the multiple changes that occurred during pregnancy and birth. Both lactation and recovery require adequate nutrition (Stanford Children's Health, 2019). Mothers also need to cope with numerous body changes such as weight loss, regaining a physically active state, breast engorgement, constipation, pelvic floor changes, sweating, uterine pain, and vaginal discharges (Higuera, 2016). Thus, pregnancy spacing is such an essential element of family planning, as it allows for this recovery period to take place (“Pregnancy spacing: Tips for family planning,” 2022).
If not through the use of family planning methods, the only way to ensure pregnancy spacing is by committing to abstinence. However, in a monogamous relationship, sex has a lot of benefits, be it physical or psychological. It increases people’s level of commitment and emotional connection with one another and is actually positively associated with a lower divorce rate (Stritof, 2022). Without family planning, pregnancy within six months of live birth may cause an increased risk of premature birth, placental abruption, low birth weight, congenital disorders, schizophrenia, and maternal anemia. Not only can it affect the mother’s health also the children’s (Mayo Clinic, 2022).
Family planning also helps to reduce teenage pregnancies. Contraceptions protect teenagers from the physical, emotional, and financial burdens of an unplanned pregnancy. There is also an increased risk of teenage mothers having preterm babies, which contributes to higher rates of neonatal mortality. Consistent use of female or male condoms protects individuals not just from unwanted births, but also from sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and AIDS.
Lastly, family planning enables the education and empowerment of couples and individuals. It informs them of their rights and their options to make sound decisions in life. It assists them to determine what is best for their sexual and reproductive health. It enables them to create financial security which is very important in providing for their family’s needs and securing child’s and aging parents’ futures (“Important Of Financial Security For Your Family Members | Term Insurance Policy | PolicyBazaar,” 2022). This allows them to properly care for the family, and a well-cared-for family is a healthy family, which is significant to a healthy community (The Medical City, 2020).
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Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate on your answer.
I am in favor of the Reproductive Health Law. The Reproductive Health Law or RA 10354 provides a National Policy on Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health. The law strengthens individuals' rights to make free and informed decisions concerning their reproductive health in accordance with their religious beliefs and the obligations of responsible parenthood. It ensures access to information about methods of effective natural or modern family planning that are medically safe and backed by science and evidence-based medical research, as well as affordable, but quality reproductive health care services and supplies to promote (1) the health of the entire population, especially of the women, children, unborn, and the marginalized, (2) safe delivery and birth of healthy children, and (3) the rights to responsible parenthood, social justice, and full human development. The law promotes programs that will enable and not deprive (1) families to make informed decisions regarding their ideal family size considering their health and resources, in support of women’s reproductive rights and health, guided by gender equality and women empowerment as its central elements, and (2) the protection of the children, born and unborn. The law gives importance to respecting individuals’ religious and cultural values, as well as their preferences and choice of family planning methods. Most importantly, it guarantees the human rights of all persons including their right to equality and nondiscrimination (Philippine Commission on Women, 2012).
Though the government ensures that women suffering from post-abortive and postpartum difficulties, labor and delivery issues are cared for in a humane, nonjudgmental, and sympathetic manner in line with the law and medical ethics, it still recognizes abortion as illegal with no exception to rape, health risks, or life-threatening pregnancies. Pregnancy complications can become severe that only abortion can preserve a woman's health and life. At the same time, women who have unwanted pregnancies desperately opt for unsafe methods such as self-inflicted abdominal and body damage, chemical intake, self-medication, and dependence on unlicensed abortion providers, which is responsible for almost 13% or nearly 50,000 maternal morbidities annually (Melgar, Melgar, Festin, Hoopes, & Chandra-Mouli, 2018). The law is a good step to progression and improvement of the country’s policies to reproductive health, however, they failed to realize how safe abortion is, in fact, healthcare and a form of protection of women’s rights as well.
I acknowledge the existence of the Reproductive Health Law and give it my full support, but I also recognize its limitations and will advocate for its improvement.
References
Higuera, V. (2016, December 20). Recovery and Care After Delivery. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Healthline website: https://www.healthline.com/health/postpartum-care
Important Of Financial Security For Your Family Members | Term Insurance Policy | PolicyBazaar. (2022). Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Policybazaar website: https://www.policybazaar.com/term-insurance/articles/importance-of-financial-security-for-family/
Mayo Clinic. (2022). Pregnancy spacing: Tips for family planning. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Mayo Clinic website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/getting-pregnant/in-depth/family-planning/art-20044072
Melgar, J. L. D., Melgar, A. R., Festin, M. P. R., Hoopes, A. J., & Chandra-Mouli, V. (2018). Assessment of country policies affecting reproductive health for adolescents in the Philippines. Reproductive Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0638-9
Philippine Commission on Women. (2012). Republic Act 10354: The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 | Philippine Commission on Women. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Pcw.gov.ph website: https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-10354/
Pregnancy spacing: Tips for family planning. (2022). Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Mayo Clinic website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/getting-pregnant/in-depth/family-planning/art-20044072
Stanford Children's Health. (2019). The New Mother: Taking Care of Yourself After Birth. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Stanfordchildrens.org website: https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=the-new-mother-taking-care-of-yourself-after-birth-90-P02693
Stritof, S. (2022). Why Should You Have Sex More Often? Retrieved February 26, 2022, from Verywell Mind website: https://www.verywellmind.com/why-should-you-have-sex-more-often-2300937#:~:text=Sex%20in%20a%20monogamous%20relationship,with%20a%20lower%20divorce%20rate.
The Medical City. (2020). Importance of Family Planning. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from The Medical City website: https://www.themedicalcity.com/news/family-planning-basic-human-right#:~:text=can%20be%20minimized-,Family%20planning%20helps%20protect%20women%20from%20any%20health%20risks%20that,%2C%20infections%2C%20miscarriage%20and%20stillbirth.